AMC Rockaway 16

i totaly agree wiht you. if someone at amc had “vision” we would have beeh prepared. amc theaters is the big invention place when it comes to theaters. we were the first with stadium seating, the “loveseat seating”(lifting arm rests) and we also were the first ones to make the moviewatcher club. ao at some point someone had vision…but now theyre not really looking ahead because were still doing pretty good. i think even though you all disagree writeing letters will help because you need to start somewhere…and you know how you really get your letter read. you send a letter and you mark it time sensitive and address it to the head of the company and then you almost shure to get it read…most of the time…any more quistions feel free to ask.

Thanks again, Michael D. Appreciate your quick response. By the way, anyone at AMC with “vision” should already be reading up on this stuff and preparing for what’s coming, with or without our letters. One final comment: I agree outfitting one theater may not resolve the problem but waiting until all theaters can be outfitted will probably take forever. Maybe something in between.

all of your arguements are very true. the problem with the big/small theaters is when we have a movie take happy feet for example. that movie was in theaters for 13 weeks thats a long time and at its 13th week we were still selling out shows. and i think it would be a bad idea to have just one theater in 3d i think if we went we should go all the way so that we can offer the full expernce in all the movies. if you keep sending request to the main AMC corp execs your shure to get a responce sooner or later. you should write a letter. then a week later follow up with another one. make phonecalls do stuff to get the company to show that they are getting your letters. thats the best i can do for now i will ask more quistions and i will give you answers as soon as possable.

Michael D, Thank you for addressing our questions. Please bear with me as I have a lot to say. 1)In general, Rockaway can’t be that unique that it can’t manage to solve the 3D problem, as others have done. Certainly, it could consult with other AMC theaters within its family (like Clifton Commons) to see how they addressed and resolved the financial challenge. 2)I’ll pass on the interlock discussion since I’m not sure what’s involved. But again, is Rockaway the only one with this problem? 3)Regarding paying for both 2D and 3D versions, hey, you gotta spend money to make money (it’s called “investment”) and the 3D versions MAKE money. Between the added volume of customers and increased ticket prices, it would pay for itself. 4)If you’re showing both 3D and 2D versions, the 3D version could actually help the sales of the 2D version. I read somewhere that 2D version sales increased when the 3D sold out. 5)Training booth people to maintain both systems would be part of the “investment” for the future. Successful companies train all the time to keep up with new technologies. Using the training argument to avoid moving forward is short sighted. 6)Assuming the expense is the same to outfit a large or small theater for 3D, a large theater should be equipped to accommodate the crowds on opening day. This would translate to more ticket sales. When sales drop off significantly, discontinue the movie. Unless you show both versions in the first place, moving it to a smaller theater in 2D is not going to significantly add to revenue at that point. The argument that a “small theater is too small and big theater is too big” makes no sense. It’s self-defeating. 7)I disagree that most people don’t care which version they see. That’s not what I’ve been reading. Studies were done that show people are interested in 3D and will pay extra to see what they can’t currently get at home. Otherwise why have the 3D versions been doing three times the business? 8) The ability to show IMAX films?…another plus!!! There are NO IMAX theaters in our area. You have to travel to West Nyack or Lincoln Center in NY, or Atlantic City to see an IMAX movie. I wrote to IMAX Corporation, AMC, Simon Management and the Mayor of Rockaway to get them to add an IMAX theater to the mall, with no success. Well, thanks again for your response. I’m glad we have someone like you working at the theater who asks questions, addresses our concerns, and is learning the business. Please feel free to respond to my comments. And please pass them on to anyone at the theater who will listen. I’m no expert in theater management but I’ve been reading a lot about the new 3D and what’s ahead. 3D is here to stay, finally, and Rockaway is going to have to come around eventually. It just makes good business sense!!!

Michael D, what is the #1 16-screener owned by AMC? I guess it’s the new movie theater in Paramus. One reason why the Rockaway location is number 2 is because of its easy to spot location near busy Route 80. It’s the only movie theater near that highway that is visible for commuters to see. Too bad the AMC in Rockaway doesn’t show NCM Fathom showings like the Met operas or revivals of old horror and 80’s movies in the digital format, something the Rockaway needs to improve to attract a huge crowd. Probably the two big theaters should be using the Real D projectors. BTW, how is security at the theater compared to the old one? So far, no reports of crime or vandalism outside the theater according to what I read in the Daily Record.

this is a good thing…kudos to AMC for bringing the movies back to rockaway.

thanks for the info! Out of all the summer movies, which movie did extremely well so far at this theater?

sorry.

nice photo; btw, anything new coming to the rockaway theater since opening late last year? It’s still a great place to see a movie, yet the management is a bit slow and the projection is not as sharp as a loews or a clearview theater.

When the mall gets renovated later this year just in time for next summer of ‘08, it won’t affect the movie theater. The mall, unlike the theater, is 30 years old, and traffic might get bad around the area so that parking will spill over into other areas, such as those near stores that are out of the mall, such as the convenience center and the multiplex. This traffic nightmare would mirror that of what would come on Friday, when AMC’s third 16-plex in north jersey, The Garden State 16, opens in Paramus near the Garden State Plaza. It will be like Rockaway but will be more heavily traveled than that area since it’s more suburban and near New York.

According to movietickets.com, Spider-Man 3 will be playing on five screens (including one with open captions); hopefully they are on the two big and two second biggest screens in the complex. As for ticket sales, I noticed that the shows haven’t been sold out as of today. That will change come opening weekend, when Spider-Man returns to Rockaway after five years. The only other new movie playing there, Lucky You, is only playing on one screen and will bomb at the box office despite having Drew Barrymore in her second movie of the year (her last film, “Music and Lyrics”, did so-so at the theater and will find new life on DVD). So far, two Drew Barrymore movies have been playing at this theater; the last movie she was in that played in Rockaway was “Riding in Cars With Boys”.

When Spiderman 3 opens in Rockaway, it will mark the webslinger’s return to Rockaway since the first one came out at the Outer Six during the theater’s last year. That movie was the last summer blockbuster that the theater ran before closing its doors in late 2002 to make room for a big Best Buy. As for this coming weekend, looks like there won’t be any movies playing on multiple screens, with “Grindhouse” out of the picture. Looks like the theater will do poorly this weekend and the weekend after next before all the tickets for Spiderman get sold out. By the way, how many screens will this film be played on? The last movie to play on many screens there was “300”, which was a great movie to enjoy there. Hopefully it will be digital.

Hopefully AMC can get their act together when the summer movie season begins.